


from the tears of a vine blooms a bond divine

by kakunamatatq



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Kallura Secret Santa 2019, Post-Season/Series 03, Season/Series 03, Secret Santa, kallurasecretsanta2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21979705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kakunamatatq/pseuds/kakunamatatq
Summary: Written for Sansllura for the 2019 Kallura Secret Santa. Prompt: MistletoeKeith tries to recreate an old Altean custom and ends up making it much harder on himself than it needs to be. It all ends up working out, though.
Relationships: Allura/Keith (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Space Mice (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	from the tears of a vine blooms a bond divine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sansllura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sansllura/gifts).



> A thousand apologies for posting this late, and a belated happy holidays to the Kallura fandom! Thank you for letting me participate in my first fandom gift exchange!
> 
> Set months after the s3 finale in a timeline where K/A became canon at some point during that nebulous time period.

After taking what seemed like the twentieth corner since they had gotten off the elevator, Keith turned to his shorter teammate and asked, “Pidge, are you sure this…whatever it is you’re looking for is down here?”

“ _Idymsithta_ ,” she corrected him, the slightest hint of annoyance lacing her voice as the word effortlessly fell from her lips. “And yes, I’m sure. Coran said it was down here, and the Castle logs corroborated this was where it was inventoried. It’s just,” she glanced down at her tablet in her hands, “another right corner and then a stretch of hallway until storage chamber 32-Tonfa.”

“Okay,” Keith replied, returning them to the amicable silence they had fallen into as their impromptu quest had progressed. It was a simple one: locate the whatever it was Pidge wanted to tinker with and help her bring it back to Green’s hanger so the tinkering could commence. It was something she could have accomplished herself with relatively little difficulty, but Keith had volunteered his services of an extra pair of hands and a few inches of height should she need it. She had raised an eyebrow at the mention of the latter addition, but ultimately accepted the offer.

Another corner taken and hallway conquered put them before the remote room. Pidge quickly keyed in the access code, and the door slid up to reveal a small storage room lined with shelves that went above either paladin’s reach.

“It’s gonna be,” she glanced down at the tablet again, “on the top shelf on the left.”

“Of course.”

“Of course. There should be a ladder in here though, lemme see.” She turned around and located the generator next to the entrance. After confirming the default dimensions of the ladder, a beam shot out of the box. Within a few seconds, a glowing blue stepladder that was solid to the touch appeared before them.

Pidge promptly ran up the steps, eager to claim her newest tech acquisition. She pushed on the container to release it from the lock, then gripped the handle on its front to ease it out enough to grab on to the sides. Its size, however, proved to be difficult, leaving the Green Paladin struggling to manage it as more of it came off the shelf.

“You sure you got it?” Keith asked, arms raised midway to catch the container if her grip gave way.

“Yeah, I thi— _shit!_ ”

The bin tumbled out of Pidge’s hands and down the ladder, flipping upside down and bashing into a step before Keith could stop its descent. Thankfully, the lid remained intact.

A brief sigh of relief escaped both their lips, along with a “nice catch” of gratitude, before they guided it the rest of the way to the floor. Once the threat of a crash was no longer a concern, the two flipped the container back onto its bottom, and Pidge swiftly opened it to survey the damage to its contents. 

“Oh thank quiznak, Coran would’ve talked my ears off and then threaten to feed them to some yalmors if any of this other stuff had been broken. Not that he would’ve found out about it any time soon with how busy we are trying to figure out what Lotor’s planning, but all the same, I’d much rather avoid that.” Panic dissipated, she pilfered her prize from the bin, eyes sparkling as she stood up and rambled on about the wonders of Altean tech and what she’d be able to do with it given enough time.

Keith hummed in interest when he thought appropriate, half understanding what she was saying due to both her rapid firing off of jargon he had trouble keeping up with even when she slowed down to explain things to the less tech-savvy members of the team, along with his preoccupation with the contents of the bin.

It was an odd assortment of things from his perspective. There was the idymsithta and seemingly related devices, what appeared to be rocks, some sort of artwork on irregular-shaped canvas, and, finally, a collection of jars that each contained the same plant. Or at least he thought they were plants. They looked leafy enough.

“Hey, Pidge,” he interrupted, picking up one of the jars, “do you know what this stuff is supposed to be?”

The youngest paladin halted her ramblings to analyze what he held in his hand. “Oh, that’s an entuaa plant. It’s part of some Altean mythology. You should take a jar.”

“What? Why?”

“I bet Allura would like it.”

A tinge of red bloomed on Keith’s cheeks. He took a few seconds to calm his nerves before he responded, hoping she wouldn’t draw attention to his shift in coloration. “What makes you say that?”

“I’m assuming you’re not familiar with the myth of Ennura and Tuaa?”

A furrowed brow and a slight tilt of the head was enough to answer that question.

“Right. So, Ennura and Tuaa were two of the Altean ancients who were very much in love. One quintant, they were tasked with uniting Alteans and their allies across star systems in order to combat some sort of encroaching malignant force. Ennura and Tuaa hated the thought of being separated even for short periods of time, but they knew it was their duty to preserve the lives of those who had placed their trust in them, so they didn’t openly voice any of their apprehensions. 

On the night before they were to part, Ennura awoke to find her bondmate missing from their quarters. She searched everywhere for her lover, eventually finding her atop the highest branch on the tallest tree of the planet, wrapped up in the purple vines her tears were slowly flowing down.

Ennura was paralyzed by the sight, her own tears intermingling down the vines, before she gathered her resolve and made an oath upon those vines to reunite with Tuaa. Then she extended the vines into the atmosphere, letting their shared tears flow out into space to form what would eventually become known as the Entuaa constellation.

No matter how far apart their journeys brought them, because their very essence had been poured and intermingled within those tears, they were able to find each other across time and space by looking up to those stars.

That’s the truncated version anyway. The original is much grander and lyrical in its presentation,” she said with a flourish of her hand.

Keith studied the plant he held in his hand. “Seems kinda heavy to give as a gift.”

“I guess it is, depending on the situation you find yourself in,” she mused as she plopped herself down on the floor across the bin from him, face resting on her fist. “Maybe a bit too weepy. But over the millennia, Alteans were just as likely to pin it up because they were feeling extra sweet and mushy as they were for a prolonged separation. Traditions change, people are different.”

“And you gleaned all of this from your Altean lessons?”

“What can I say? You start off learning about what a Duflax is, then you find out it was the symbol for a social movement. Next thing you know, it’s three vargas later and you’re neck deep in alien mythology,” she shrugged nonchalantly before she sobered up some and averted her gaze to the floor. “But no, if you don’t think it’s a good idea, forget I said anything. Just figured it could be kinda fitting, what with you starting to go off on missions with the Blades and all.”

Keith felt a familiar twinge of guilt bubble up in his stomach at the mention of the secretive Galra order.

Kolivan had asked for his assistance on a mission. Not Team Voltron’s in a grand, symbolic show of unity and strength, but his in a covert operation that only a small unit of Blades would be carrying out. The speed he’d accepted the invitation had been a bit unsettling looking at it from the perspective of his teammates, even if none of them had come out and explicitly said so. 

It was…complicated. He had no plans to permanently leave Voltron, but at the same time, he couldn’t deny that he wanted to spend as much time with the Blades as he reasonably could. See how they handled certain scenarios, learn about the half of his heritage that had been a secret for most of his life from people not loyal to an eons-old dictator, and maybe, though he tried to keep this hope buried deep down in the recesses of his heart, meet the woman who left him and his father years before he ever learned to say “stay.”

“N-no, it’s…it’s not a bad idea, Pidge. Thank you,” he said. “But what exactly do I do with it? Just hand it to her in the jar?”

“Think of it as like…Altean mistletoe. You just hang it up, stand under it, and you’re good to go.”

* * *

‘Just hang it up,’ as it turned out, had been much more challenging than anticipated. Mechanics-wise, there wasn’t any major hurdles. Pidge could rig something together to put the plant up no matter where he ended up choosing. But it was the choosing portion of the plan that was the hard part.

The more frequented areas of the Castle like the dining hall or the lounge were too risky. Anyone could walk in on them. His room, by contrast, would pose no such issues, but he couldn’t think of a good reason to prompt Allura to come in there since any time they wanted a more intimate moment together, they opted for her room. It was bigger and much more personable than his comparatively sparse living quarters. But her room would be risky too. Even if he managed to sneak in while she was out, there was a chance one of the mice would be in there, and he couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t rat him out. And suggesting to go to one of far-flung corridors of the Castle would be suspicious because why the hell would he randomly suggest to go there?

Keith paused his aimless wandering to sit on the hallway floor and run a gloved hand over his face. He was definitely overthinking this, walking for hours with the plant on one of their rare full days off (barring the surprise Galra attack or request for aid), thinking it would help jog his brain into coming up with a solution if he scoped out the right location. It had been a week after he and Pidge had stumbled upon the plant, and he still hadn’t come up with anything. Not that he was pressed for time, since Pidge had mentioned it was regulated to a specific date or holiday, but it was still frustrating all the same. He wanted this to be perfect.

Opening one of the pouches on his belt, he pulled out the entuaa and gazed at it, tracing the purple vines with his fingers as if an answer would miraculously appear in one of the clear orbs.

A small squeak pulled him out of his thoughts. Chuchule and Platt had managed to sneak up next to him, their eyes filled with curiosity as they blinked up at him.

“Oh, uh. Hey,” he said, unsure of what else to say. He couldn’t imagine what they were doing out here, but then again, he didn’t exactly know what they did every hour of the day. They weren’t exactly strangers at this point, but Hunk, Pidge, and of course Allura and Coran were more familiar with them.

Keith watched as the two alien rodents climbed up his pants legs before directing their attention to the entuaa. His fingers slightly curled around it as they drew closer, sniffing it. As far as he knew, this wasn’t a staple of the space mouse diet, so he was probably being overly cautious, but all the same, he would rather not take any chances.

Platt seemed to be satisfied with the whiff he got and made his way back down onto the floor next to Keith. The larger mouse didn’t leave though, instead pushing on Keith’s thigh with his front paws and squeaking at the paladin again. 

“What is it?” asked Keith. He received another series of squeaks in response that didn’t help alleviate his confusion at all. He moved his right hand to block off Platt from another barrage of pushing and was about to ask again what he wanted when the mouse bit one of his fingers. Not enough to draw blood, but still enough to smart.

It was all the distraction Chuchule needed to take the entuaa in her mouth and dart off down the hall. 

“Hey!” Keith yelled as he quickly got to his feet, gently but firmly grabbing Platt by the scruff of his neck to set him on the floor before chasing after the pink mouse. She might have had a few seconds of a head start on him, but he could recoup that easily.

He dashed after her, his longer legs slowly closing the distance until she took a sharp corner down a narrower hall and the two other mice shot out from it.

Awkwardly stumbling to avoid squishing any tiny bodies, he rapidly reoriented his limbs to continue the pursuit, only for that hope to die as he witnessed Chuchule dive into a vent. He ran up to it to assess if there was any way he’d be able to get through it, but quickly determined that was impossible. It probably wouldn’t matter either, since the echo of Chuchule’s footsteps was fading just as fast.

Under different circumstances, Keith would have appreciated the coordinated effort, but all he felt like doing now was berating himself at being tricked by a pack of mice. He turned to glare at Chulatt and Plachu, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on them as they innocently blinked back at him before scampering off. 

He let out a deep sigh and ran a hand over his face again, giving himself a moment to lament how things had played out before deciding what to do next. This was fine, if the mice wanted the plant, they could have it. Pidge hadn’t mentioned that it was poisonous. If they wanted to eat it, it would probably be okay. And there was more than one of them. He just had to ask Pidge what room it was in, and he could go grab another.

But if the mice ended up giving the one they had to Allura for whatever reason…

New plan: find Pidge, see if she could discern what the mice were up to in the vents, then find that storage room again.

He was halfway through step two when the alarms went off.

* * *

“Would you care to spar with me later, Keith?”

The attack had been largely uneventful. A small squadron of Galra fighters led by a small-time commander itching to rise in the ranks had tried to ambush the Castle, but the team had made short work of them. A brief debriefing later and they were all ready to pick back up in their activities where they had left off. 

Allura had approached Keith with their increasingly regular post-battle invite to a sparring session, and he agreed to meet her there. With Pidge’s help, he had enough time to grab another plant and hide it safely in his room for later. They hadn’t been able to figure out what the mice had done with the original one, though. As far as Pidge could tell, neither it nor the mice were currently in the vents.

The ideal scenario was them sticking it in some random area of the Castle for nesting material. Worst case one…well, Allura would probably bring it up later if he wasn’t supposed to be using them, and he’d apologize. Profusely, if necessary.

This was how he found himself flat on his back on the training deck, breathing heavy as Allura had once again flipped him onto the ground. And yet he couldn’t help but grin up her as she stood over him, hand on her hip, chest rising and falling, though at a much slower pace than his due to the difference in exertion, reciprocating the grin she gave him.

“Almost had you that time.”

“That you did.”

There was no way he would ever outclass her in pure physical strength, but that was never the intention of these sessions. Learning new techniques, building muscle memory, those definitely tied into it. But it was the confidence she radiated, the way she carried herself, the ideals she strove for, the drive and determination to fulfill them, the winning smiles she’d flash him, the way she could make his heart flutter like it never had before. He loved everything about her, and in moments like these it was like he was realizing that all over again for the first time.

She offered a hand to him. “Up for one last round?”

“One sounds good.”

Back on his feet, he took a few steps back before returning to a fighting stance, and she did the same, waiting for the robotic referee on the sidelines to tell them to go as they slowly circled each other.

The call was given, and Keith launched himself at Allura. She easily dodged and sent two tempered, well-placed kicks into his side. 

Recovering quickly, he elbowed his way back into her space, following it up with a punch. This time she blocked, shoving him back before starting off her own series of volleys to put him on the defensive. 

It continued on like this for a bit longer, Keith knowing he was going to run out of steam soon, but trying to hold out as long as he could to get one last hit in. 

He saw his chance when she went too wide on a punch. Grabbing her arm and her shoulder, he used the last amount of his strength to send her to the floor. Her lack of immediate retaliation told him that this was the point where they were calling it quits.

Keith lowered himself down, straddling her hips and placing his hands on either side of her head to prevent himself from collapsing on top of her entirely. Their eyes locked, his darker blue meeting her lighter one that held a flicker of mischief. “Now,” he managed out between breaths, “I got you.”

“That you did.” She motioned with her chin for him to look up.

He turned back and was met with the sight of all four mice maneuvering a floating tray stolen from the kitchen adorned with the entuaa plant they had swiped from him. 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” he said, but he didn’t have long to reflect on it as he felt Allura’s hand rest on his chin. She gently guided him back to face her, eyes connecting again as she raised herself up to meet his lips with hers. She deepened the kiss further when she wrapped her arms around his neck, her tongue slipping into his mouth. He eagerly surrendered himself to her, letting her lead as he continued to hold them both off the ground.

It was much briefer than he would have liked, but he broke off first, breath still heavy, though now with an exquisite taste he could only sum up as _her_ lingering on it. To call it anything else felt like a disservice, felt lesser, and he would never imagine cheapening it. 

“I will say,” Allura said, her breathing now in a state closer to his as she still hanged from his neck, “that it is missing the final touch.”

He stared at her, gaze questioning as she lowered herself back to the floor, allowing him to freely move and sit up. After she had done the same, she motioned for the mice to bring the tray over to them. With squeaks of acknowledgement, they floated it down within her reach, and she plucked the entuaa from it. 

“Are you familiar with the capabilities of this plant?” she asked. 

“No, just the story behind it.”

“I figured as much,” she said, mirth in her voice as she lifted her hand to hide her mouth, “what with your sneaking around the Castle trying to find a spot to put it up.” The hand had done nothing to prevent the small laugh from escaping, but Keith didn’t mind. Their task of saving the universe kept them from laughing as much as they should. 

“Sorry,” he began, but she stopped him with a wave of her other hand and a shake of her head. 

“No, it’s fine. If anything, your dedication was endearing, if the mice’s tale is accurate.” 

Keith squinted at the little group of rodents, but with only mock anger behind it now that he was certain he hadn’t committed a cultural faux pas, it didn’t have much of a scolding effect on them.

“It’s just that when an Altean or another being capable of quintessence manipulation is involved in the relationship, they usually go a step further and put some of their quintessence in it.” She pointed to the small translucent orbs along the vines. “These berries retain the mixed quintessence, only losing the glow naturally if that love fades.” She extended a hand to him, and Keith willingly gave his.

After placing the entuaa in it and guiding his other to cup it, Allura placed her own hands around his. Then she closed her eyes and breathed in deep.

What happened next was hard to describe with words. First, there was heat, but it wasn’t searing or painful. Just warm and tender, the kind that seeped into one’s bones and alleviated all aches. It enveloped his hands before spreading throughout his body.

Then there was a pull, kind of like when they formed Voltron with the team. Only quieter, gentler, and more intimate, with no accompaniment of the tension and fear that prompted most of those formations. Keith felt like he was floating outside of his body and the passage of time had ceased to exist, all colors fading and blurring into various shades of gray except for him and Allura, though they had taken on hues of red and white respectively.

Finally, a blinding light leaked from his fingers, causing Keith to flinch, though he didn’t dare move his hands. Mercifully, the light softened, and the glow around him and Allura faded until only that tiny covered light he held in his palms retained the color.

With another deep breath, Allura opened her eyes. Time and space started functioning normally again at once, and for a second the shift back knocked the wind out of Keith.

“Are you all right?” she asked, concern in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he replied. “Just wasn’t expecting anything that intense.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, a tinge of remorse on her face. “It tends to not be as disorienting if you close your eyes, but I didn’t want to stop you if you wanted to see everything that was happening. But look at it now.”

Keith turned his attention from her back to his hands as he opened them up. The formerly see-through berries were now a mix of red and white, the colors slowly swirling together until they settled into a solid pink. 

“Oh, our color complements the purple so nicely,” she crooned, gingerly taking the entuaa from him to get a closer look at it. The ripples of pink that danced across her blue eyes was mesmerizing. Keith couldn’t help but stare in soft awe.

“Now,” Allura declared in an imitation of her diplomatic princess voice, “it’s perfect.” She lifted the branch above her and leaned forward, voice taking on a deliciously mischievous tone as she asked, “would you care to continue where we left off?”

Keith let the crashing of his lips answer for him.

**Author's Note:**

> "Entuaa" was originally going to be "Intuya," but the former was slightly less dumb and on-the-nose.
> 
> I hc Keith as either never leaving for the BoM after this/operating strictly on mission-by-mission basis, or if he did, it's more worthwhile all the way through instead of just at the tail end where he reunites with Krolia and gets a cheap timeskip.
> 
> I'm still not over these two so if you ever feel like talking about them (or want to give constructive criticism) come chat with me on [tumblr](https://kakunamatatq.tumblr.com/tagged/mystuff).


End file.
